Douglas Manyama legacy tournament Champions Winnerspark with Tournament sponsor, Tebatso Manyama of King Vleis clothing brand.
By: Refilwe Sebola
The second Douglas Manyama Legacy Tournament which took-off in the long weekend of Passover at Mohlabaneng sports ground was simply the best.
This year the number of teams participating in the five star event doubled up from eight to sixteen. Tournament sponsor Tebatso Manyama of King Vleis clothing Brand raised the bar high this time around with regard to the prizes and introduced ladies netball competition as well.
Moreover, unlike in the previous year were there was only few competitive clubs, this time around the standard of teams was very high.
Experienced teams such as ABC Motsepe league side, Winnerspark and current SAB league log leaders Jozy United raised the bar very high this year with their technically organised style of football.
Both Winnerspark and Jozy United cruised passed their first opponents Bayern FC and Tshepo Academy from Kgapane with a convincing 3-0 and 2-0 score respectively to advance to the quarterfinal.
However, the quarterfinals proved to be a milestone for both clubs as smaller clubs such as Mokwakwaila based Dream Team FC and White Horse FC also raised their standard.
The two small teams gave their SAFA league seniors a run for their money securing a goalless draw in full time. It took the lottery of penalties for both Winnerspark and Jozy United to book a place in the semifinal.
In the semi-finals the obviously fatigued Jozy United who were engaged in dual tournaments were humiliated by the inform Rajeke fc 4-0 in full time while Winnerspark booked a place in the final with a slender 1-0 win over home boys, Bellevue All Stars.
Jozy players were so fatigued that even their 46 year-old coach Musa Nkondo who was a professional player in his days for the now defunct Premier Soccer League side, Santos FC got in to the field to play. He played with sheer class showing all and sundry in the crowd how to play football effectively.
He was actually the media’s man of the match even though he only played in the second half.
In the final, Robert Mokgola’s Winnerspark did justice to their reputable brand by securing a hard fought 4-3 victory on penalties to win the tournament in their debut stint.
It was new Winnerspark prospective acquisition Lethabo “Kaiter” Mathaba who won it for them with a brilliant penalty kick after the game had ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
The Modjadjiskloof based side took home a good R12 000 first prize with gold medals and a brand new soccer kit. The runner up Rajeke FC took home R7000 second price with silver medals while third runners-up All Stars and fourth placed Jozy United received R3500 and R2500 respectively.
Winnerspark anchor man, Thapelo Mokgola who is Robert Mokgola’s son took the player of the tournament and man of the match accolades.
He received two trophies and top of the range pair of King Vleis snickers.
Moshe Raseropo of Bellevue All Stars took the top goal scorer award with only three goals.
Meanwhile, Beke le Beke from Polokwane emerged champions in the Netball games. They beat rivals Bodupe Extreme Eagles in the final and took home R6000 and a new netball kit plus gold medals while Bodupe received R4000 and silver medals.
Mighty Queens of Madumeleng surprisingly took position three and received R1500 plus bronze medals.
Tournament sponsor, Tebatso Manyama of King Vleis Brand who is also a nephew to the late Douglas Manyama played and actually scored for the Gauteng Masters team called Sebona against Mohlabaneng Masters.
Sebona was made up of soccer legends such as former Orlando Pirates and Sundowns midfielder Oupa Manyisa, goalkeeper Brighton Mhlongo and Sipho Moeti of Baroka. As expected Mohlabaneng lost 2-0.
